For the Love of a Child
by Cold Canary
Summary: Disclaimer: I don't own Stitchers.
1. Civil Ceremony

For the Love of a Child

Chapter One: Civil Ceremony

 **Summary:** Kirsten and Cameron come together to protect a child that is left orphaned after Kirsten sees into the memories for the little girl's parents.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Stitchers.

Kirsten was shaking as she climbed out of the fish tank and stumbled into Cameron's arms as Camille wrapped a blanket around the shoulders of her best friend. Kirsten stared intently into Cameron's eyes, willing him to understand what she needed them to do.

"I'm not a mind reader Stretch, you need to talk to me." Cameron muttered as he rubbed the blonde's arms.

"They have a 3 month old daughter. We need to go get her." Kirsten said as tears filled her eyes. Residual emotion.

"We can't." Cameron said softly.

"We have to Cameron." Kirsten insisted. "We have to." She repeated to herself.

"Kirsten, we aren't that baby girl's next of kin. CPS wouldn't let us take her." Cameron argued.

Kirsten looked around the lab before taking Cameron's hand in hers and leading him towards the locker room.

"I'm not saying just take her, I'm saying we need to adopt her. I have been in the memories of both the husband and the wife. Neither of them had any siblings, and both sets of their parents are deceased. And, neither of them had any close friends that they named as godparents. That baby girl has no one." Kirsten explained.

"As much as I would love to adopt a baby girl with you Buttercup, we will need to be married first. CPS won't let a couple who is just dating adopt a baby together." Cameron replied with a sigh.

"I know that it's not how you were wanting to go about doing this, but we can go to City Hall. Camille and Linus can be our witnesses." Kirsten said with a shrug.

"And the apartment? It's not exactly baby proofed. Neither is yours and Camille's place." Cameron said, purposely not commenting on Kirsten's willingness to get married.

"We can do it. We can get married today, and then baby proof the house over the weekend." Kirsten said.

"The house?" Cameron asked.

"We'll talk to Camille and Linus. Maybe they'll be willing to switch places with us if we offer to let them be godparents." Kirsten suggested.

"You're set on this, aren't you Stretch?" Cameron asked.

"I am." Kirsten replied.

"And you're 100% sure that this isn't just residual emotion. You are 100% sure that you want to get married and get ready for a adopting a baby?" He questioned.

"100% sure." Kirsten said with a nod.

"Okay… but we talk to Camille and Linus together after the debrief." Cameron said with a sigh. "Hurry up with getting changed." He added as he placed a light kiss on her lips before turning and walking away.

Kirsten changed faster than she ever had before in her life. She and Cameron needed to get a move on everything as soon as possible, or else they would lose out on adopting their baby girl. _'Would we need to keep the same name for her?'_ Kirsten thought to herself. _'Helena Camille Goodkin has a nice ring to it.'_ Her thoughts added, putting a smile on her face.

"Come again?" Camille asked. "Why did I just hear you say my name with your boyfriend's last name?" She added.

"I was just thinking of names for when Cam and I have kids. I guess I must have said the last part out loud. What do you think of the name combination Helena Camille Goodkin?" Kirsten said quickly, hoping she didn't give anything away.

"I like it… then again, I will like any little girl who has my name as a namesake." Camille said with a shrug. "Anyway… Maggie said that she got everything Fisher needed from what you told us, so once you're ready, we can head out to dinner with the boys." She added.

"Cam and I actually need to talk to you and Linus about some stuff." Kirsten said.

"Does it have anything to do with the case?" Camille asked.

"Yes and no." Kirsten replied as she grabbed her bag from her locker.

"Okay then…" Camille said with a shrug.

As the girls walked out of the locker room, Kirsten glanced over at Cameron and gave him one of her rare smiles. This was going to work. They were going to be a family. Cameron, her and their baby girl Helena. Upon reaching the guys, who were waiting on the elevator, Kirsten slid her arm through Cameron's and leaned into his side.

"Helena Camille Goodkin… if we're able to legally change her name once we adopt her." Kirsten whispered as the elevator arrived and the two couples stepped inside.

"I like the sound of that almost as much as I like the sound of Mrs. Kirsten Elise Goodkin." Cameron whispered back as he placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Okay love birds, spill. What do you need to talk to us about?" Camille asked.

"We need you two to be our witnesses for a civil ceremony at City Hall this afternoon." Cameron announced as the four stepped onto the elevator.

"Come again?" Linus asked.

"Cameron and I are getting married today so that we can adopt the baby girl who was orphaned because of this case." Kirsten elaborated.

"And we will need you guys to help us baby proof the house… that is… if you two would be okay with moving into my apartment so that Kirsten and I could have the house to bring the baby home to." Cameron added.

"What's in it for us? Other than the amazing apartment?" Camille asked before Linus could agree to it.

"Being named god parents?" Kirsten offered as a question.

"Done deal. We'll help you two get everything ready." Linus said after a quick (and silent) conversation with Camille.

"When do we head out to city hall?" Camille asked as the elevator doors opened with a ding.

"Right now." Kirsten said as she pulled Cameron by his hand out of the restaurant that was above the lab and to the parking lot where his car waited.

"I'm going to have to get a new car, aren't I?" Cameron asked.

"Probably." Kirsten said shooting him an apologetic look.

"You can have my Edge, and I'll take your comfortable." Camille offered.

"So, just trade everything pretty much?" Cameron questioned.

"Yeah, I mean anything to keep our goddaughter safe, right?" Camille said with a smile. "Linus and I will meet you at City Hall." She added as she pulled her boyfriend towards her car.

"Shall we Cupcake?" Cameron asked as he opened the door for Kirsten.

"Yeah." Kirsten said simply as she got in quickly.

As both couples drove towards City Hall, each were having different conversations about the day's events. Camille and Linus were still shocked that their best friends were getting married before them, due to Cameron having to die and then come back for him and Kirsten to get together, when they themselves had been together since before the Spanish Flu outbreak in the lab. But they were happy for their friends regardless. Cameron and Kirsten were talking about everything that they would need to do to get ready for Baby Girl Goodkin.

"While you were in either stitch, did you happen to get the baby's name, just in case we can't change her full name?" Cameron asked.

"I think it was Elizabeth Madison? I only got a glimpse of her birth certificate when I was in the wife's memories." Kirsten replied.

"If we aren't able to change her name, Elizabeth Madison Goodkin is just as good as Helena Camille." Cameron said with a smile as he took Kirsten's hand and kissed her knuckles as he pulled up to a stop light.

"I guess you're right. I've just always liked the name Helena." Kirsten admitted.

"If we ever have a baby girl of our own, we can name her Helena. Does that work Sunshine?" Cameron asked as he pushed down on the gas pedal when the light turned green.

"Yeah." Kirsten replied with a small smile.

"We're here." Cameron said a few minutes later as he pulled into the underground garage and got their parking permit for the afternoon.

As Cameron and Kirsten were getting out of the car once they parked, Camille and Linus were pulling into a spot next to them.

"Lover Boy, you should have at least let us get a small bouquet for your bride or something." Camille commented.

"It wasn't Cameron's fault, time is of the essence. The sooner we get married, the sooner we can start the adoption process, and the sooner we can bring our baby girl home." Kirsten said matter-of-factly as Cameron took her hand in his.

"What kind of Maid of Honor argues with the bride on the wedding day?" Cameron asked with a joking tone that got all of them laughing.

"The kind that doesn't see how the bride is okay with wearing jeans and a sweater to her wedding, and one who wonders just where the wedding rings are." Camille shot back through her laughter.

"They're in my pocket." Cameron admitted as his face turned scarlet.

"Dude, really?" Linus asked.

"I want to see the engagement ring." Camille said excitedly.

"As you mentioned earlier, this isn't how I wanted to go about doing this, but Kirsten Elise Clark, will you marry me?" Cameron asked as he pulled a small velvet box out of his pocket and pulled a gorgeous diamond ring out of it as he held Kirsten's hand in his.

"Of course." Kirsten replied with a watery smile. She was still getting used to having emotions.

"Good, cause our wedding ceremony starts soon." Cameron said with a smirk before leaning in to kiss her.

"What a way to pull a Gaston move and still get the girl." Camille commented with a smile. "Now let's go get you two married so that you can go adopt your baby girl." She added.

Once they got into the building and were directed on where they needed to go, it wasn't too long of a wait before they were called in. The ceremony itself wasn't nearly as long as it would have been if they weren't on a time crunch, which Kirsten was happy about. When it came time for the vows, however, Kirsten was at a loss for words. Luckily Cameron went first, so Kirsten had something that she could go off of.

"Kirsten, I know that we are an unconventional couple, but that's what makes us work. Because it's only what people see when they look at us, a total nerd and the hottest girl in class, that make us unconventional. But when you put down on paper everything that we each have accomplished, we aren't so different from each other. I can't promise you everything, like the moon, the sun and the stars, but I can promise you my love, my heart, and my soul." Cameron said and they all heard Camille sniffle at the words.

"Cameron, before I met you, I had no idea what love felt like. I was always alone, but I never knew what being alone felt like, either. Because of my accident when I was little, I couldn't feel any kind of emotion. But that all changed when I met you. You helped me feel things that I didn't even know were possible for someone with TD to feel. And I can't thank you or love you enough for everything that you have done for me. I might have loved my parents before the accident, and I might have felt something for Ed before the accident, since he had been such a close friend to my parents, but I don't know if I did or not. So while I can't promise you the moon, sun or stars either, I can promise you that, as far as I can tell, you are the only man that I have loved, and you are the only man that I want to love, for the rest of my life." Kirsten said and she knew that her best friend was in full on tears now.

After that, the ceremony ended quickly. Camille handed Kirsten Cameron's ring (while trying desperately to dry her eyes and failing) and Linus handed Cameron Kirsten's ring. They kissed to consummate their marriage ceremony, and then signed the marriage certificate. As they headed back to the cars, with Linus and Camille trailing behind, Kirsten couldn't describe what she was feeling, seeing her married name on the paper in her hands. _Mrs. Kirsten Elise Goodkin._ She was married to Cameron. She was married… period.

"How does it feel?" Cameron asked as he scoped her up bridal style, eliciting a squeal of surprise from his new bride, and placed her into the passenger side of the car.

"How does what feel?" Kirsten asked looking up at him.

"To be married?" Cameron added.

"I'll let you know once I've wrapped my head around the concept. How does it feel for you?" She asked.

"Like I am the luckiest guy on the planet to have you as my wife." Cameron replied as he leaned down and pressed his lips to Kirsten's.

"Yo, Romeo. Move it, will you? The Best Man and I would like to get into the car." Camille said as she swatted at Cameron's back to get him to move, at least most of her tears of joy were gone now.

"Hey, so Camille and I were discussing it, and if we are going to be switching houses, then we are going to need to get some packing boxes so that we can make that switch." Linus pointed out.

"Okay, how about this, while Kirsten and I head to the store to get the stuff that we would need to baby proof the house, why don't you two go out to get the boxes, and then head over to the house and get started. Sweetheart, do you have the spare key to the apartment?" Cameron asked.

"Yeah, here you go." Kirsten said as she pulled her keys out and slipped the key to their apartment off of the ring.

"Here. If we aren't back before you need to start bringing things over, use this key to get into the apartment." Cameron said as he handed the key to Camille since she was closer to him.

"Okay. See you two honeymooners later." Camille said with a wink.

"We aren't going on a honeymoon right now!" Kirsten exclaimed.


	2. Whirlwind Weekend

For the Love of a Child

Chapter Two: Whirlwind Weekend

 **Dedication:** _I am honestly surprised with how much I wrote for the first chapter since it was written on my phone between the Microsoft Word app that's linked to my computer, and the notepad app that is a default on my phone. It honestly came out better than I thought it would, and I can't thank you all enough for the positive feedback that I'm getting. This chapter is for everyone who reviewed, favorited and/or followed the story._

From Friday evening, to Sunday night, it was a whirlwind of things happening for Cameron, Kirsten, Camille and Linus. By Saturday afternoon, Cameron's and Kirsten's clothes were out of their apartment and into the house, and Camille and Linus were almost done getting their clothes into the apartment. There was a heated discussion amongst the guys on who would get what furniture, but in the end, only the TVs/game consoles and the beds were moved. At least, Camille's bed replaced Cameron's and Kirsten's bed was donated to charity.

While Cameron and Kirsten had been out getting the things that they would need to baby proof, Cameron had managed to talk his new wife into turning Camille's room into the nursery, since it was across the hall from where their room was, and they had decided to paint the room white, and add some splashes of pastels as accent colors.

What surprised the young couple the most was when Fisher and a few others from the lab showed up and offered to help. Kirsten and Cameron shot daggers at Camille and Linus, but when their best friends explained their reasoning for telling everyone else, the newly weds eased up a little. And honestly, if it weren't for the extra help, the house would not have gotten transformed in the 48 hours that had passed.

But after the inside of the house was ready for a baby, then the small group went on to tackle the garage. It was at this point that Kirsten pulled Fisher aside to talk to him.

"Most of this stuff belonged to Ed, and since finding out that he didn't kill himself, I know that the investigation has been reopened, so if you need to get some of your police buddies down here to take all of this stuff into evidence, go ahead." Kirsten explained.

"Are you sure?" Fisher asked.

"Positive. I would rather have all of this stuff out of here and with the police rather than out of here and either being used by someone else or sitting in a storage locker or something." Kirsten replied.

"Oh, that does remind me, while we were reexamining Ed's apartment for any other clues, we also found a key for a storage locker. I don't know if you and your new hubby want to take a look at it before LAPD does, but here you go." Fisher said as he handed her the key.

"Thank you Fisher." Kirsten said as she slipped the key into her pocket.

"What's going on over here?" Cameron asked as he walked over.

"Kirsten was just telling me that she wouldn't mind if LAPD took all of this stuff in as evidence since most of it belongs to Ed. And I was giving her a key that we found at Ed's apartment that belongs to a storage locker." Fisher said. "Oh, and congratulations to both of you. I'm happy for both of you." He added before walking over and starting to sort through some stuff.

"What are you thinking Buttercup?" Cameron asked as he watched Kirsten pull the key back out of her pocket and look at it.

"I'm thinking that I at least want to see what is in the storage locker before I- we- make a decision on what to do." Kirsten replied.

"We have our appointment with CPS tomorrow morning, we can always head down and check out the storage locker after that." Cameron offered.

"Yeah, okay. That sounds like a good plan." Kirsten agreed with a small nod.

"Hey, Cameron, Kirsten, are you two sure you don't want to go through all of this and catalogue everything before I call the police over? There might be some things in here that you could fix up and use." Fisher offered.

"If Kirsten wants all of it to go to your guys first, then that's what's going to happen. Once it's all looked over, if there's something that isn't of importance to the police, then we'll look it over at that point." Cameron replied.

"Okay." Fisher replied as he pulled out his phone and called the station.

As he was doing that, everyone else headed back into the house. After a long couple of days of getting everything ready, everyone was ready to relax. After getting a general consensus of what everyone liked, Cameron ordered a couple of pizzas. It was shortly after that when their coworkers started to go out to their cars and come back in with gifts.

"Really, an impromptu baby shower?" Kirsten asked.

"Hey, we didn't get to really celebrate your birthday, so in place of that party, this is just our way of saying congratulations. Plus, it's not an impromptu baby shower. It's an impromptu bridal party." Camille said with a smile.

"Plus Camille and I missed out on throwing the two of you your Bachelor and Bachelorette parties, so she told everyone to bring a gift when they came over to help today." Linus added.

"There's nothing that we can do this time Princess. Plus it would be extremely rude of us to deny our friends their generosity." Cameron said with a smile when Kirsten looked up at him for help.

"Okay, so my detectives will come by tomorrow afternoon to start bringing everything down to the station." Fisher said as he came back into the house from the garage.

"Sounds good." Cameron replied.

"Did I miss something here?" Fisher asked as he noticed the small pile of gifts that were sitting on the coffee table.

"Just the start of the impromptu bridal party that I mentioned." Camille said giving the detective a pointed look.

"Oh, right, that. I just need to go grab my gift out of my car." Fisher said with a nod of understanding before quickly exiting the front door.

"Camille... seriously?" Kirsten asked.

"Hey... be glad I didn't throw you two a wedding reception to make up for the shotgun wedding." Camille retorted.

"It wasn't a shotgun wedding." Kirsten argued.

"Yes it was... a shotgun wedding is something that happens quickly. You hadn't even told everyone in the lab that you two were dating yet. The only reason that Linus, myself, Maggie and Fisher knew were because you two are mine and Linus' best friends; Fisher's a detective, so it wasn't hard for him to figure out; and you two **_had_** to tell Maggie so that she knew what was going on." Camille argued back.

"A shotgun wedding is to cover a pregnancy that happens out of wedlock. That was not the reason behind mine and Cameron's wedding." Kirsten said through gritted teeth.

"Camille, drop it." Cameron warned as he rubbed Kirsten's back to calm her down. "Kirsten is right, while the wedding might have been sooner than we had anticipated, it was in no way a shotgun wedding. Kirsten isn't trying to cover up an unplanned pregnancy, and you know it. We knew that there would be no way for us to adopt if we weren't married." He snapped.

"Cam, calm down." Kirsten said urgently.

"I don't like people making you upset." Cameron said with a huff.

"Camille wasn't making me upset, she was irritating me in the way that she usually does. What makes tonight different then any other night?" Kirsten asked.

"You're my wife." Cameron said simply, but sighed just after. "I'm sorry Camille. I overreacted, and I shouldn't have snapped at you." He added.

"Don't worry, I'm okay. It was adorable to witness you coming to wifey's defense for the first time as a married couple." Camille said with a smirk.

"New nicknames now?" Chelsea asked.

"Oh yeah." Camille replied with a high five.

It didn't take long for the group to start to wonder what exactly was taking Fisher so long, but before anyone could do anything to see where he was, there was a loud bang from the front yard. By the time a second bang went off, everyone was on the ground. Cameron looked around to make sure that everyone was okay, and once he was sure that they were, he moved towards the door, only to be stopped by Kirsten.

"Cameron, please don't go." Kirsten pleaded with her husband.

"I need to make sure Fisher is okay." Cameron insisted.

"No… the last time that someone attacked Fisher, you ended up in a coma too and then you felt the necessity to stop your own heart. Don't make me go through losing you again." Kirsten said as tears filled her eyes.

Cameron stared at his wife. She had a point. They had no idea what was going on outside, but they had been married for 48 hours now, so he couldn't put himself in the risk of getting hurt. Especially since they were planning on trying to adopt. So instead, Cameron pulled out his phone and called 911. As the phone rang, Cameron started motioning for everyone to move to the back of the house. For some reason, only Kirsten, Chelsea and Camille moved. Linus and Alex stayed where they were, and so did Cameron.

"911, what's your emergency?" The dispatch lady asked.

"There were two gunshots a few minutes ago outside of my house, and there's possibly a LAPD detective hurt." Cameron replied as he gave pointed looks at his two friends and motioned for them to follow the girls. There was no way that he was leaving them alone in the back of the house.

"What's your address?" The lady asked. Cameron rattled it off. "And are you any relation to Kirsten Clark or Camille-?" She started to ask.

"Kirsten Clark is my wife." Cameron replied urgently.

"And what is the name of the detective that you think might have been hurt?" The lady asked.

"Quincy Fisher." Cameron replied before realizing that the guys still hadn't moved. "Go with the girls." He mouthed to which Alex and Linus shook their heads in denial.

"And what is your name sir?" She asked.

"Cameron Goodkin." Cameron replied. "Do it now so they aren't alone back there." He mouthed back to his friends.

"Okay Mr. Goodkin, we have officers on the way to your location now." She said.

"Please let the officers know that there are six of us in the house. Myself, my wife, and some friends from work." Cameron said.

"Will do Sir." She replied before the call ended.

"When I tell you guys to go with the girls, I mean it. Now let's move." Cameron said as he hurried down the hall. "Kirsten!" He whispered loudly.

"In here." Kirsten called from their room.

"Sweetheart? Are you okay?" Cameron asked as he heroes into the room with Alex and Linus right behind him.

"Just shaken up. Fisher-" Kirsten started.

"I called the police. We don't know if Fisher was even hurt, but the police are on their way. Fisher is going to be fine either way." Cameron said as he pulled her close and rubbed her back.

After that, the six friends didn't say anything. Kirsten was huddled in Cameron's arms, Camille was burying her head into Linus' shoulder and Chelsea was simply leaning into Alex. It didn't take long for them to hear the sirens and then the shouts from the officers. Then there was banging on the front door. At first none of them moved. Then they heard Fisher's voice carrying through the door and down the hall to them saying that everything was okay and that they could come out. Slowly, each of the guys stood up before helping the girls up as well. As they made their way back out to the living room, the six friends all sighed a collective sigh of relief at seeing Fisher alive and well.

"Is everyone okay?" Fisher asked.

"Just shaken by déjà vu." Camille muttered as she wrapped her arms around Linus.

"We got the guy who was trying to shoot at the house." Fisher said.

"Trying to shoot at the house!?" Kirsten asked as she started to struggle against Cameron's hold on her to get outside.

"That's not a good idea Buttercup." Cameron muttered.

"Cameron's right. You don't want to see who it is." Fisher said.

"Tell me then!" Kirsten demanded. "Who's trying to hurt my family?" She questioned.

"Liam Granger." Fisher replied.


	3. Mayhem Monday

For the Love of a Child

Chapter Three: Mayhem Monday

 **Dedication:** _I don't have much to comment on for this dedication, but thank you for the continued support. This is for everyone who favorited or followed the story after chapter two._

After Fisher had said who had been shooting at the house, Kirsten had stopped struggling to get out of Cameron's grasp. She didn't want to see Liam. She didn't want Liam to know that she had turned down his marriage proposal and then got married to Cameron. Even if she was able to have a civil conversation with him, Liam wouldn't be able to get passed the fact that she was married to the man that she had sworn to him she had no feelings for. But she needed to know why he had been trying to shoot at the house. Had he somehow found out about her and Cameron? Kirsten didn't know how he could have, it wasn't like they had told anyone outside of their co-workers, hell, and they hadn't even told Cameron's family yet. Even once she voiced her concerns to her husband, Cameron wouldn't let her go outside.

After that, Fisher promised to keep them updated and told everyone to go home. He also promised to have police stationed outside the house and at the apartment incase Liam was able to make bail somehow. There was no way that Fisher or Cameron were going to let Kirsten be left unprotected. But even with the knowledge that Liam had been apprehended and that no one had been hurt and that there was police outside the house and outside the apartment building, Kirsten couldn't get to sleep. She kept tossing and turning and eventually she just sat up in bed and watched Cameron sleep.

"Stop staring Honey. It's a little unsettling." Cameron muttered.

"How did you know I was staring at you? And you stare at me all the time!" Kirsten questioned.

"I stare at you when we're both awake. I don't stare at you while you're sleeping. At least not as intently as you were just staring at me. And I knew that you were staring because I'm not a deep sleeper. I felt you tossing and turning, and I felt you sit up. I could feel you staring at me." Cameron explained as he rolled over and grabbed his glasses from the nightstand.

"What time is it?" Kirsten asked.

"It's 12:30." Cameron replied as he sat up and pulled her into his lap.

"We haven't really had our wedding night you know." Kirsten commented.

"And we will tomorrow night, I promise." Cameron said as he placed a kiss on her shoulder and lightly rubbed circles on her hip where his hands met around her waist.

"I can't sleep." Kirsten said even though it was obvious at this point.

"Really Sweetheart? I couldn't tell." Cameron said with a smirk.

"I don't know why I can't sleep." Kirsten elaborated.

"What's on your mind?" Cameron asked.

"Everything that has happened since Friday afternoon." Kirsten admitted.

"Are you starting to regret being married to me already? I'm hurt." Cameron replied as Kirsten settled her head against his shoulder.

"No regrets here... still trying to wrap my head around everything. With being able to feel emotions and such now, it's almost as if I'm slowly being cured from having TD, and instead of everything being instantaneous now, I'm still processing the fact that we're got married on Friday." Kirsten explained.

"That's called the honeymoon stage of a marriage." Cameron replied.

"We still get to have a honeymoon, right?" Kirsten asked as she lifted her head up and looked at him earnestly.

"Of course we're going to go on a honeymoon. Once everything is settled with the switches. We still have quite a bit to do before we leave for a week." Cameron said with a smile as he tried to fight off the laughter that was threatening to bubble over.

"Cameron Goodkin, are you laughing at me?" Kirsten asked sternly.

"Of course not Princess. I'm trying not to laugh at you. There's a difference. Besides, I've never seen you so excited about something like going on a honeymoon." Cameron said with a light kiss to the tip of her nose. "And does Mrs. Goodkin have a suggestion of where she would like to go for our honeymoon?" He asked.

"Hawaii." Kirsten said quickly. She had never been to Hawaii, and lately she had found herself wanting to go.

"Hawaii it is." Cameron replied.

As Kirsten started to lean in to give her husband a kiss, there was a pounding on the front door while both of their phones started to buzz. With a quick glance at each other, Kirsten climbed off of Cameron's lap to grab her phone while he grabbed his. Upon reading the text from Camille, Kirsten looked up at Cameron and gave him a confused look, one which he returned upon reading his text from Linus.

"KIRSTEN! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! OPEN THE BLOODY DOOR!" It was Liam. He had posted bail.

"How did he get past the officers outside?" Kirsten asked in a panic.

"I don't know, but stay here." Cameron said as he kissed her forehead and got out of bed.

"Cam!" She exclaimed.

"I'm not going to answer the door Honey." He reassured her.

"COME ON KIRSTEN! THERE'S SOME THINGS THAT WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT!" Liam called out as he continued to bang on the door.

Clearly Kirsten not responding wasn't going to make the situation any better. But Cameron was determined to keep his wife safe. Making his way softly into the living room, Cameron looked out the front window and his face fell. The officers that should have been outside weren't there. Neither was the policed cruiser. With his phone still in hand, Cameron dialed Fisher as he headed back to his and Kirsten's room.

"Do you know what time it is Goodkin?" Fisher asked after the third ring, his voice groggy from having been asleep.

"Yeah, it's about 12:40 in the morning, and the officers that you promised would be stationed outside of my house aren't there, and Liam is pounding on the door." Cameron said.

"Are you sure they aren't there?" Fisher asked, sounding more awake.

"I'm sure Fisher. I checked. No officers, no cruiser, nothing." Cameron replied.

"I'm on my way." Fisher replied.

"Make it quick Fisher, Liam might break down the door if he doesn't get what he wants." Kirsten said.

"I'll be there in 5 minutes. Stall him." Fisher replied before hanging up.

"Stall him? How does he expect us to do that?" Cameron asked.

"I go talk to him." Kirsten said with a sigh.

"No." Cameron replied.

"Cam, I don't think we have a choice right now. It's either I go talk to him, or we risk him breaking down our front door and forcing me out of here. Which one keeps me safer?" Kirsten asked.

"Fine, but I'm going to be there with you, and we aren't opening the door." Cameron replied.

"Fine." Kirsten said as she placed a small kiss on his lips before getting off of the bed. "You might want to put on a shirt though Stud." She added.

Cameron didn't like this. Neither did Kirsten. The only upside was that they hadn't talked to CPS yet, so the adoption process wasn't in motion, and they didn't have the baby yet, so Liam pounding on the door, while he had stopped yelling, wasn't waking anyone but the neighbors. As Kirsten and Cameron walked into the living room, Kirsten flipped the living room light on and the pounding ceased.

"Kirsten, open the door." Liam said at a normal tone, but Kirsten could hear a slight slur to his accented words.

"I'm going to do that Liam." Kirsten replied.

"I am not going to have this discussion through a closed door." Liam said, his voice rising a little bit.

"Either you have this conversation, whatever this conversation is, through the door, or you don't have it at all. Your choice." Kirsten retorted, glad that her voice sounded the way that it used to, void of emotion.

"Fine. We'll have it through the door. Why did you lie to me?" Liam asked.

"I'm not sure what you think I lied about." Kirsten said, although she was pretty sure that he was referring to her feelings regarding Cameron.

"That Cameron guy... you said you didn't have feelings for him. I saw you two walking out of a baby store together. Why did you lie and say you don't have feelings for him if you're pregnant with his child?" Liam asked.

"I didn't lie to you Liam. When you proposed to me, and asked me if I had feelings for Cameron, I didn't. It was after I told you that I couldn't marry you that things changed." Kirsten replied.

"It was 9 months ago Kirsten, things couldn't have changed that drastically." Liam said sarcastically.

"You have no say in how drastically things change in my life. You never did even when we were dating." Kirsten snapped.

"Don't try and be all high and mighty with me Kirsten. You might not have felt the time passing when I was away, but every decision you made was made with me in mind." Liam scoffed.

"That just shows how little you really know me Liam. When you were away, if felt as if you were always gone, and my decisions were made for me and me alone. When you were here, I tried to make decisions with you in mind, but every single one of them backfired. Until I made my decision on your proposal. You asked me to marry you, and once I realized that it isn't what I wanted, I made the decision to say no, and that was 90% me, and 10% my friends and co-workers." Kirsten retorted.

Before Liam could respond there was a screech of tires coming to a halt outside and Cameron and Kirsten both sighed in relief. Fisher was there. Liam on the other hand wasn't thrilled.

"You called the cops on me? You little bitch!" Liam yelled making Kirsten step back towards Cameron and allowed him to hold her close.

"Liam Granger, you are under arrest for trespassing on private property and skipping bail. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney; if you can not afford an attorney, one will be provided for you by the state of California." Fisher said as the clink of the metal handcuffs could be heard from inside the house. "Kirsten, you can go back to bed now." He called as he led Liam to his squad car.

Kirsten knelt down on the couch as she watched Fisher place Liam into the back seat of the police car. If it had been nine months ago, Kirsten would have fought with Fisher to not arrest Liam. If it had been nine months ago, Kirsten still would have been with Liam, and she wouldn't be married to Cameron. If it had been nine months ago, Kirsten Clark wouldn't have known what hatred felt like.

"Let's go to back to bed." Cameron said softly as he wrapped one arm around Kirsten's waist and the other behind her knees and carried to the bedroom bridal style.

"This won't be the last time we see or hear from Liam." Kirsten commented.

"I know, but there's nothing that we can do right now." Cameron replied as he set her down on the bed before pulling his shirt back off and climbing in next to her.

"And we're still going to go through with trying to adopt?" Kirsten asked.

"If you still want to." Cameron said with a nod.

"I know that I still want to start a family with you." Kirsten said after a moment.

"Then let's get some sleep so that we aren't late for our meeting with CPS in the morning." Cameron said as he kissed Kirsten goodnight.

"I love you Cameron." Kirsten said softly as she settled herself against Cameron's side, her head on his chest.

The following morning was slightly better, but the young couple was still shaken by their middle of the night visitor. But even with as shaken about it as they were, neither Cameron not Kirsten let it show during their meeting with CPS.

"So, why do you two want to adopt?" The CPS officer asked.

"We both feel like there are so many children out there that don't have parents for one reason or another and if we can give them a home and a family that loves them, then we would like to do that." Cameron replied.

"And you agree with your husband's view Mrs. Goodkin?" The officer asked.

"Oh, absolutely." Kirsten replied with a nod.

"And it says here that you two were old friends of Mathew and Alana Colton, and would like to adopt their 3 month old daughter Elizabeth?" The officer questioned.

"If possible. We know that both Mat and Lana lost their parents when they were younger, and that neither of them had any siblings that would be able to take their daughter in." Kirsten replied.

"Do you know if they named any of their other friends as godparents that might be able to take Elizabeth in?" The officer asked.

"Not that we know of." Cameron answered.

"Okay, well, everything seems normal with you two, but let me get ahold of the Coltons' Will and then we can go from there. We can put Elizabeth in your care temporarily, and you can get a fostering license, and we will have to set up a few interviews during that period that we will use to make sure that you are the right couple to adopt her." The officer said with a smile.

"We do have one question that we are curious to know about." Cameron said quickly.

"And what would that be Dr. Goodkin?" The officer asked.

"If we are able to adopt Elizabeth, would we have to keep her name the same? Or if we had another name picked out, would we be able to legally change it?" Cameron questioned.

"If she was older, and was well into knowing what her name is, we would say that you would only be able to legally change her last name. But given that she is only 3 months old, we would allow a full legal name change." The officer said.

"Thank you." Kirsten said with a smile.

"I do have to say that before we can give you temporary custody of Elizabeth, we will need to set up a house inspection, just to make sure that everything is in safe for a baby to be around." The officer said.

"Of course, when would you like to set that up?" Cameron asked.

"Tomorrow afternoon at 1 is the first time slot that I have available." The officer said.

"That works for us. Thank you so much for your time…" Kirsten trailed off at the end realizing that she didn't know the ladies name that they were talking to.

"Oh, I apologize, I never introduced myself properly, did I? My name is Amanda Michaelson." Amanda said with a smile.

"And please, call us Cameron and Kirsten." Cameron said with a smile.

"I will see you both at 1 tomorrow then." Amanda said with a nod.

"Yep, 1 tomorrow." Cameron said with a nod as he shook her hand.

As they walked out of Amanda's office, something felt off to Kirsten. She was happy that Amanda didn't find anything off putting with her and Cameron, but at the same time, their marriage certificate clearly stated that they had gotten married on Friday afternoon and now here they were, Monday morning, talking about adopting. Had Amanda even looked at the certificate closely? Or had she just looked at the fact that it was marriage certificate, that was signed by both of them and the judge? Either way, Kirsten had a bad feeling that was threatening to ruin to somewhat good morning.

"You okay Buttercup?" Cameron asked once they were out of the building.

"She didn't ask why we were in such a rush to adopt when we've only been married for 65 hours." Kirsten replied.

"Are you saying that's a bad thing?" Cameron asked.

"I'm saying that it's giving me a bad feeling. Yes, I'm happy that she says everything is in order, and that she doesn't find anything off putting about us, but shouldn't she have at least touched on the fact that we've only been married since Friday afternoon?" Kirsten asked.

"Maybe everything else about us made when we got married a mute point." Cameron suggested.

"Yeah, maybe." Kirsten said as they reached the car.

"Are you still up for checking out the storage locker?" Cameron asked.

"Yeah. But let's call Fisher to make sure that he will be with the officers that are coming to collect Ed's stuff from the garage for evidence on the way. I want someone that we know and trust to be at the house if we aren't able to get back before they arrive." Kirsten said.

"Do you want to contact Camille and Linus as well?" Cameron asked.

"Sure. I'll text Camille while you call Fisher." Kirsten said.

 **Can you and Linus head over to the house? – Kirsten**

 **Why? – Camille**

 **Cam and I just finished talking to the CPS officer and we are going to go check out a storage locker that belonged to Ed, but Fisher has a team of detectives that are going to be collecting Ed's stuff from the garage for evidence. – Kirsten**

 **So why do Linus and I need to be there? – Camille**

 **So that Cam and I know there are people there that we know and trust, just in case Fisher isn't able to be there. – Kirsten**

 **Sure, we'll head over. – Camille**

 **Thanks. – Kirsten**

 **Np. – Camille**

"Camille said that she and Linus will head over." Kirsten said.

"That's good because Fisher is stuck at the station for the foreseeable future. He's dealing the arrest paperwork for Liam." Cameron replied.

"Oh." Kirsten said simply.

The ride to the storage facility was a quiet one. Both Kirsten and Cameron were contemplating what might be in the locker and why it had taken a second search of Ed's apartment to find the key. Neither of them actually expected to find what they did upon reaching the locker though.

"It's all my baby stuff." Kirsten commented as she started to look through some of the boxes that were in the front. "Baby clothes, rattles, play sets, everything from when I was born through my toddler years. Maybe even up until I moved in with him." She added.

"Well, that's a lot less things that we will have to buy." Cameron commented.

"True. Do you think we should start taking some of this stuff to the house?" Kirsten asked.

"Yeah. We can start taking the boxes back and then I can ask Linus to help me with the bigger stuff." Cameron replied.

"And Camille can help me sort through everything." Kirsten added.

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Cameron replied with a smile as they both grabbed some boxes and started heading the short distance to the car.

After a couple hours of bringing boxes to the car, a little under half of the storage locker was empty. It was at this point that Cameron came back from his last load and found Kirsten standing in the middle of the vacant space, her arms wrapped around herself and crying silently.

"You okay Princess?" Cameron asked.

"Why was the key at Ed's apartment, and why the locker under his name?" Kirsten asked softly.

"Maybe after the accident, when your dad dropped you off with Ed, he gave the key to Ed and asked him to transfer the locker to his name." Cameron suggested.

"That would imply that my father really had no intentions of ever coming back for me." Kirsten said.

"Honey, he was guilt ridden, and wasn't thinking straight. I could tell from that video, he loved you and never intended on hurting you." Cameron replied.

"Can we go home now? I need some time to sort through everything, both physically and mentally." Kirsten said.

"Of course." Cameron replied as they both stepped out of the locker and closed it before making sure it was locked. "Let's go home." He added as he took her hand in his, brought it up to his lips and kissed her knuckles.


End file.
